


The Amazing Adventures of Fíli and Kíli

by orphan_account



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Frottage, M/M, Sibling Incest, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-26
Updated: 2014-05-26
Packaged: 2018-01-26 14:19:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1691366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fíli and Kíli must learn how best to use their special abilities amidst family secrets and their own growing feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Amazing Adventures of Fíli and Kíli

Kíli took a deep breath, staring down into the alleyway. He counted seven people, two of them boxed into the corner and the other five advancing.

“Ready?” Fíli murmured into his ear, pressed up against his shoulder close enough for Kíli to feel the heat of his body all along his side.

He told himself his shiver was due to nerves, and not his brother’s proximity.

“Ready,” Kíli confirmed. He sensed more than saw the sharp, feral grin on Fíli’s face.

“Then turn out the lights, little brother.”

Kíli closed his eyes and concentrated, bidding the darkness to encompass the figures in the alley. It was more difficult than he’d expected to do it at such a distance; he felt sweat break out on his forehead, and knew the mangled bandana he wore as a mask would have to be washed.

A low whistle next to him nearly broke his concentration, and he elbowed his brother in the ribs. Fíli only chuckled breathlessly, though he’d used enough force to cause a not-inconsiderate bit of damage.

“It’s not as easy as I make it look,” he hissed, just as the first confused shouts filtered up to them. Success, then.

“Ha. It _worked_ ,” Fíli said, triumphant. As Kíli had done all the work, he wasn’t quite sure why it was Fíli feeling triumphant, but he was glad enough that he’d pulled it off to overlook it. “All right. You’re up.”

Kíli nodded and paused for a moment before heading over to the fire escape. He spared one last glance for his older brother, who offered an encouraging grin in response, and swung down. His preternatural grace served him well, and he soon hung off the edge of a fire escape just outside the bubble of darkness; misty tendrils of it seemed to reach out to him affectionately.

One last deep breath and he let go, dropping the last ten feet to the ground and letting the darkness engulf him.

To Kíli, it looked as though the alleyway was bathed in the light of twilight. He knew from his experiments with Fíli that to the people trapped in it with him, the darkness was entirely impenetrable. They’d be unable to see even a few inches in front of their faces.

With such an advantage, it should have been easy to beat the thugs and get the victims out, but the problem was the darkness relied on Kíli’s concentration to stay present. If his focus slipped, as it must during a fight, even when he had the overwhelming advantage, then the darkness would evaporate.

And he was tougher than a normal person, and faster, and stronger, but he and Fíli had never quite figured out how much. He had no desire to find out in a dirty alleyway surrounded by five huge thugs that would all have it out for him.

Which was why he had backup of his own.

For now, he focused on the nearest of his targets; this one was bumbling around, trying to feel his way out of the alley. He was nowhere close to being successful, but Kíli supposed he could afford him points for trying. He snuck around behind him and hit him with a shot to the kidneys, with just a bit more force than a normal human would’ve been capable of. The man dropped, and Kíli bent to tie his arms with the rope he’d brought.

Fíli and he had agreed that they didn’t want to risk knocking anyone out with head injuries; not while they were still figuring out how enhanced their strength was compared to regular people. So tying them up it was.

Right. First one down. Four to go.

There was one other wandering around a bit, arms outstretched. He was summarily dispatched with a punch to the gut and elbow to the back, winding him enough to let Kíli restrain him.

There were panicked shouts now from both of the thugs he had beaten and tied, which were putting the other three on alert. They’d had the sense to stay where they were, too, instead of panicking and trying to find a way out. This was going to be a bit harder.

He led off with a kick to the ribs of the guy closest to him. But he must’ve pulled the kick too much; the man didn’t go down, only grunted and stooped a bit, guarding his ribs and on high alert.

Crap.

He tried again and again, dodging in and trying to land attacks that would be damaging enough to drop him without being fatal, but now the guy knew he was there, and was actually able to dodge and deflect, at least enough to keep his feet.

Kíli gave more and more attention to the fight; he dealt more and more damage and still the guy stood. Finally, finally, he managed to drive the man to his knees and looped a length of rope around his neck, holding it taut in an effort to make him pass out.

And that was when a startled shout caught his attention, and he realized the quality of light had changed.

His darkness was gone.

He stared up with wild eyes, trying to track the movement of the other two. He barely had a thought to spare for the two victims he’d been aiming to save, aside from briefly noting that at least all the attention was off them for the moment. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be taking advantage of the opening he’d provided.

And then Fíli came down.

His brother was luminescent; Kíli knew well that where he himself had his darkness, Fíli had his light. But if he hadn’t know better, he would’ve thought he was looking at a man engulfed in flames. Golden tendrils swirled around his brother, licking against his clothing.

The two thugs were staring, open-mouthed, as Fíli made his way down from the rooftop. Kíli frowned to himself; it was a stress on Fíli to keep it up that long, and he didn’t like how much of a risk he was taking.

But it was effective, he could give him that. The two assailants looked like they might piss themselves. When Fíli reached the bottom and turned his gaze to them, they started shaking. He advanced on them, his light intensifying as he went. Soon he looked less like a man and more like a star brought to earth; not even Kíli could look at him dead-on.

They threw down their weapons and ran before he reached them. Fíli let them go, and let his light fade out just as Kíli’s charge finally went limp.

The two brothers grinned at each other, exultant, before turning their attention to the victims still cowering in the corner.

~*~

Once the two people—Fíli called them civilians at one point, which was completely hilarious to Kíli—had been seen to a police station to file a report about the incident, it would be an easy drive back to their neighborhood, and they laughed and jostled each other as they walked to Fíli’s wreck of a car, both riding the high of their successful encounter. When they came into sight of it, Fíli wrapped an arm around Kíli’s shoulders and pulled him close, and something warm bloomed in Kíli’s chest.

When they finally reached home, they snuck around to the kitchen door, taking off their shoes and crossing the room in stocking feet to keep from making noise.

Kíli grinned, giddy that they were actually getting away with it. It seemed the perfect end to their triumph earlier.

Then the light flipped on, and Fíli and Kíli froze.

Thorin was sitting in the living room, staring at them evenly.

“You’re supposed to be able to see in the dark,” Fíli hissed under his breath.

“My dark,” Kíli protested, equally quiet.

“Boys,” Thorin said, cutting through the beginning of their whispered argument, “Have a seat.”

The two of them plopped down on the couch, side by side, facing their uncle. They all regarded each other in silence for a few long moments. By unspoken agreement, both brothers waited for their uncle to initiate the conversation. He in turn let them stew for an unbearably long time.

“So,” Thorin said at last. “I’m curious. Do either of you have any kind of explanation for why you’re coming home at nearly three in the morning?”

Fíli and Kíli looked at each other, but neither said anything. Thorin sighed.

“Shall I tell you what I think, then?”

Again, he waited for them to answer but they said nothing. He continued regardless.

“I think the two of you thought you were grown up enough to go out on your own. It’s hardly an original idea. Just tell me you didn’t come home drunk or high.”

Righteous anger that their uncle could think such a thing of them colored Kíli’s thoughts; he could tell by the way Fíli clenched his fists that his brother felt the same. But neither wanted to reveal to their uncle what they’d really been doing, and so both managed to keep their mouths shut.

Unfortunately while they had both come into the maturity and self-control needed to keep their mouths in check, they were less practiced in controlling their emotions enough to keep their powers equally under control.

The manifestation of Kíli’s powers weren’t too noticeable; the darker shadows on the edge of the room fluttered a bit, tickling at the corners of his mind, but it was dark and the room was lit only by a table lamp. Thorin didn’t notice anything. Though that might have been because his attention was suddenly focused to Kíli’s left. Not that Kíli could blame him.

Fíli was glowing. Literally.

And he seemed to be realizing the heat he was feeling was more than an enraged flush. He glanced over at Kíli, and his horrified expression must have told his brother everything he needed to know.

The glow intensified for a minute, fueled by Fíli’s panic, before dying away.

Neither of the boys dared to look at their uncle, only trading a desperate and despairing glance before firmly fixing their eyes on their knees.

Thorin cleared his throat. “Well,” he said with a weak voice, “I might’ve been wrong about the two of you going out and partying.”

Fíli and Kíli both peered up at him. That was not the reaction they’d be expecting. Thorin sighed and suddenly looked very tired.

“You boys aren’t the only ones with secrets. And I’ve lived longer. Had longer to build them up.”

That got dumbfounded looks from both of them. Surely he wasn’t suggesting what it sounded like he was suggesting.

“Enough about me, though,” Thorin said, brusquely moving on. “Tell me a bit more about what you can do.”

Fíli shifted forward, taking the lead. “I…I can control light,” he said. “Or at least I can emit it. Um. I can get it intense enough to burn if I have to, but that takes a lot of energy. And. Um. That’s pretty much it.”

Kíli frowned a bit, thinking of the days spent watching Fíli hone his powers, figuring out how to change the intensity, how hot it had to get before it burned, how much Fíli himself could take. It seemed dismissive to sum all that up with just ‘that’s pretty much it’. But it was Fíli’s story to tell. And as he seemed finished with it, Kíli leaned forward to take his turn.

“I can control darkness like Fíli controls light,” he said. Thorin narrowed his eyes and nodded thoughtfully. Kíli went on, “I can encompass an area…um, about the size of this room, I guess? And you can’t see but a few inches in front of your face. For me, it’s just sort of dimly lit.”

Thorin nodded again, more slowly. Kíli looked at Fíli. Fíli looked back at Kíli. Neither had made mention of the increased strength and stamina both had. Kíli suspected it was for the same reason: both wanted a trump card in case things turned ugly. It hurt, thinking of their uncle as an enemy, but there was nothing to be done for it. They had to look out for each other, as they had always done.

“And is that what you were doing tonight? Practicing and seeing what you could do?”

“Um…in a manner of speaking,” Kíli said. Fíli elbowed him. He’d never been good at lying to anyone’s face. And sure enough, Thorin was looking suspicious now.

“What do you mean? What _exactly_ were you boys doing tonight?”

Fíli shifted and spoke up. “We were just…experimenting with some practical uses of our powers.” So Fíli wasn’t quite so great at lying to their uncle himself.

“No,” Thorin nearly growled. “No more dissembling. Where were you, and what were you doing?”

“We were taking out some drug dealers downtown,” Kíli said quickly. Judging by the way Thorin’s face grew red, he wasn’t happy with that answer.

“Tell me that’s meant to be a joke,” he demanded, scowling mightily at both of them. Neither made any response. “Do you have any idea how _dangerous_ that was? What might’ve happened to you?”

“We’re _fine_ ,” Fíli said, mulish to the end even as an unpleasant twist of guilt made itself at home in Kíli’s stomach. Thorin stared at them both for a long moment before scrubbing his hand over his face with a deep sight.

“It’s late. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

Fíli expelled a harsh breath from his nose, but nodded. He pulled Kíli out of the room and up the stairs to get ready for bed.

And later that night when the adrenaline had worn off completely, when Kíli was shaking with the impact of what he’d done and sought out his older brother for reassurance, Fíli pulled Kíli into his bed and held him until morning.

~*~

Dís was gone by the time the two of them awoke the next morning, leaving them to face Thorin alone. But perhaps that was all for the best; better that she didn't know about them quite yet. Kíli hoped desperately that Thorin hadn't seen fit to tell her anything. Surely she'd have woken them if he had.

By mutual unspoken agreement, the brothers entered the kitchen side by side. Kíli took some small measure of comfort when their shoulders brushed, a comfort he sorely needed when the two of them sat and faced Thorin across the kitchen table.

It seemed absurd now, in the bright and cheery light of the morning, to have this confrontation. It was unthinkable that Thorin had discovered the secret they’d tried so hard to hide.

It was Thorin who broke the silence, of course.

“When did all of this start?” he asked, flicking his gaze between the two of them.

Neither brother responded. Thorin sighed. “None of us is leaving this kitchen until I get answers. Now I'll ask again: when did all of this start?”

Fíli reached out under the table and squeezed Kíli’s leg, probably telling him to stay quiet. Kíli suppressed a shiver at the contact—it was only because of how unexpected it had been, he told himself severely—and nodded almost imperceptibly. Though he couldn't help the tiny, bitter voice in his head that pointed out it had been _Fíli_ who had revealed them in the first place.

And now apparently Fíli was going to do the talking for both of them.

“Which part?" Fíli asked, and all right, that was impressively nonchalant. "When did we start going out and getting scum off the streets? Or how long have we been _different_?”

Thorin’s lips compressed into a thin line, and Kíli felt a momentary apprehension that he might start yelling. Fíli never reacted well to yelling. But when he spoke his voice was calm, if a bit strained.

“Let’s start with the beginning. When did you first realize you had these…abilities?”

Fíli and Kíli glanced at each other before Fíli answered. “Around middle school, I guess. At least the physical abilities. The…the light and darkness thing showed up in both of us at about the same time, a couple years ago.”

Thorin looked surprised, in that his eyebrows lifted a fraction of an inch. “A long time to keep a secret,” he said, voice as neutral as it ever was. Fíli shrugged.

“We shared it with each other. I’m pretty sure Kíli came running to me as soon as he noticed something was up—” Kíli ducked his head a bit, blushing; Thorin didn’t need to know how literal that statement was, how he had burst into his brother’s bedroom soon after going to bed himself, gibbering about how the shadows were _moving_ , _really_ Fíli—“and we…well, we were looking out for each other,” Fíli said.

Kíli thoroughly approved of how he glossed over the weeks of panic, the both of them trying to convince themselves they were imagining things that weren’t there and the horror of what would happen if anyone found out. The thought that they might be separated; Fíli had kept talking about a shared delusion and how they might tear them apart to break it, but as far as Kíli was concerned he’d live in a delusion for the rest of his life if it meant his brother would be by his side.

“It happened to both of you at once?” Thorin asked, leaning forward a bit.

Fíli blinked, nonplussed. “Yeah.”

“Well. Go on, then. When did you start sneaking out of the house and putting yourselves in danger?”

Fíli bristled and started turning a dull red. Kíli grabbed his arm, trying to distract him, and cut in, “We’ve been practicing, figuring out how to, y’know, actually use the, um, abilities—” he’d been thinking of them as _powers_ in his head, but that sounded juvenile now—“it’s not like we just rushed into fighting crime.”

Thorin sighed heavily. “Is _that_ what you thought you were doing? Going off, being, what, superheroes?” And now it was Kíli’s turn to scowl.

“We just—”

Fíli nudged his side gently with his elbow, apparently composed once more and ready to take over the conversation again. “It seems like a waste,” he said, “to have these abilities, these _advantages_ , and not use them to help people. We just…we wanted to help.”

Their uncle rubbed his hands over his face. “You’re so _young_. It’s not quite that simple, boys. What your mother is doing this morning is helping more than anything you two managed last night. And _she_ is doing it without putting herself in danger.”

Kíli squirmed a bit, glancing over at Fíli. That was all well and good, but Mom was a prosecutor; he and his brother were just teenagers. But Fíli was taking it badly.

“I wouldn’t let Kíli get hurt,” Fíli snapped while Kíli rolled his eyes. “We’ve been training. And we’re faster and stronger than anyone else out there anyway.” Oh, Kíli hoped Thorin hadn’t picked up on that.

“That doesn’t guarantee anything,” Thorin said, his voice modulated and even. “I want to see what the two of you can do. And _then_ we’ll decide what we’re telling your mother. Come with me.” He rose from the table and grabbed his car keys.

“Where are we going?” Kíli asked, rising as well and pulling a reluctant Fíli after him.

Thorin smirked. It was faint, but it was there. “Somewhere you can really let loose.”

~*~

Thorin drove them to the waterfront, down in the old industrial district. He stopped finally in front of an abandoned warehouse and got out of the car, leaving Fíli to peer into the backseat at Kíli.

“So this is a bit creepy,” he said, glancing out at their uncle, who was starting to look impatient.

“It isn’t,” Kíli said, more sure than he felt. “It’s just uncle Thorin. What’s the worst he could do?” But both boys stayed in the car a moment longer, until Thorin grew tired of waiting for them.

“Boys!” he shouted, “Let’s go!”

One last shared look and the two of them were following their uncle into the creepy abandoned warehouse.

“Is it okay for us to be in here?” Fíli asked, staring around the massive empty space in awe. “I mean, who does this place belong to?”

“It belongs to me,” Thorin said gruffly, dropping a sports bag on the ground and turning to the boys. “Now—”

“Why do you have an abandoned warehouse?” Kíli asked, interrupting him.

Thorin dropped his head into his hand with a sigh. “It was one of the assets owned by my grandfather’s company, one of the very few actually in our name. Now the company’s gone, I’ve got the damn warehouse, but nothing to keep in it. So it might as well serve some use. Now, if that’s all, could we please get started?” His voice had taken on a decidedly sardonic twist at the end, and the boys nodded quickly, unwilling to get any further on his bad side.

“So,” Thorin went on, “which of you is going to go first?”

Fíli and Kíli looked at each other for a long moment; finally, Fíli took half a step forward. “I’ll start,” he said. He took a few more steps forward, and frowned, looking up at the high windows and skylights that let sunlight filter in.

“It’s…more impressive when it’s dim,” he said, “but, well, I can do this.” He visibly concentrated, and slowly he started glowing. Gradually the intensity increased until he became difficult to look at directly.

“Hold out your arm,” he instructed, and when Thorin complied he reached out until he was almost but not quite touching him. Thorin swore.

“It’s hot,” he said, jerking his arm back. Fíli gradually let the intensity of his light decrease.

“Yeah, I can make it hot enough to burn,” he said, “but I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Is that all?” Thorin asked, and his stoicism surprised Kíli. He figured there would be _some_ sort of freak out after that display.

“Almost,” Fíli said. “I mean, it’s not nearly as impressive, but I can do this.” He held out his hand flat, and a little ball of light appeared over it. “I can project it out a few feet, and make it a little bigger, but if I want real heat or intensity it’s easier to do it the other way.”

“I see,” Thorin said, and nodded like he was filing the information away in his mind. “And Kíli?”

“Fíli works with light. _I_ work with dark,” he said, stepping forward to take his turn. He concentrated, and suddenly the three of them were plunged into pitch black. Thorin swore again, and Kíli grinned when he saw his uncle immediately raising his hands as if to feel his way out.

“I can see fine,” he supplied helpfully. “I mean, it’s a bit dim, like twilight, but everything’s clear.”

“Anything else to show me?” Thorin asked, and his voice was strained. Score one on Fíli, then. He’d actually gotten a reaction from their uncle.

“Not really. I can make shadows dance a bit, but it’s not exactly useful.”

“Ah. Then, if you don’t mind, could you—”

“Right,” Kíli said cheerfully, and dropped the bubble of darkness around them, leaving them once more in the sunlit warehouse.

Fíli came over to stand at his side, and the two of them turned to Thorin and watched him with anxious eyes. He bowed his head in consideration for a few long moments, while the boys waited with bated breath.

“You’re going to keep going out whether I like it or not,” he said finally. “But I’m going to lay down some rules. And if you break these rules, I’m going to tell your mother about what’s going on.”

Kíli’s stomach flipped. So he wasn’t planning to tell her at all? And they might actually get away with this?

“You’re not going out at all until you get some training, under _my_ supervision,” Thorin went on, “and you’re only going to go out _together_. No solo missions.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Kíli said eagerly, noticing Fíli’s slight grimace out of the corner of his eye. His brother had never done well with restrictions.

“And boys, I want you to really consider where you’ll do the most good,” Thorin said seriously. “You said you’d been taking out drug dealers, but if all you’re doing is beating up one person who has little choice in what else to do with their life, that’s not going to make much difference in the crime rate. And you need to learn how to use the police.”

“We’ve gone to the police before,” Kíli said, ignoring how Fíli was starting to work himself into a sulk at being lectured.

“You can’t just go to them,” Thorin replied. “You have to _use_ them. They have rules they have to follow, and you need to work within those rules in order to see any results. And it’s very important that you are _absolutely certain_ that anyone you bring to their attention is guilty; they are often not the gleaming beacon of justice you would have them be.”

Kíli bit the inside of his cheek hard. This was very serious; it wouldn’t do to laugh at his uncle now. But gleaming beacon of justice? Really? He glanced at Fíli and found his brother’s face unnaturally still, which meant he was also holding back laughter.

“Understood?” Thorin asked sharply, and the look on his face killed any levity to be found in the situation.

“Yes, uncle,” both boys said, and Thorin nodded.

“Good. Then let’s get going, boys. We’ll start tomorrow.”

~*~

After their training session, Thorin drove them home. Eschewing all unspoken rules of car seat distribution, Fíli sat in the back with Kíli and they ended up leaning against each other, dozing, tired from their late night and the worry over what their uncle would do. They startled awake when Thorin parked the car, and Fíli pulled away with an awkward chuckle and a tousle of Kíli’s hair.

They continued to practice under their uncle’s supervision, but Fíli started driving there on his own. Kíli tried not to show how it hurt that his brother was pulling away; it was to be expected, really. And try as he might Fíli couldn’t _completely_ resist the pull to spend time together after they’d used their odd abilities. Kíli learned to content himself with sitting a bit closer together than normal on the nights after they’d worked especially hard.

But it was difficult, and weird side effects or not, he missed his brother.

~*~

Finally, finally they had a day to themselves. Thorin was busy with something and didn’t want them doing anything without proper supervision, so they had a free day. They could just hang out together, without all the weirdness that their lives had become.

He burst into Fíli’s room, ready to suggest any number of ways to spend their day together, only to find Fíli pulling on his jacket and looking at him with wide, guilty eyes.

“Oh,” Kíli said, his previous excitement replaced with a spreading numbness. “You—you’re going out.”

“Um. Yeah,” Fíli said, rubbing his arm awkwardly. “I figured it’d be good to get out of the house. Neither of us has even seen anyone we're not related to in weeks.”

Kíli felt a hot flush of jealousy. "I didn't realize I was such awful company," he snapped, unable to keep the bitterness and venom out of his voice. Fíli flinched, just a little, and immediately guilt quenched everything else. 

"It's not like that," Fíli said softly. “It’s just that I want to get out for a bit, you know? I love you, Kee, but sometimes I just need some time _away_.”

“Yeah, all right,” Kíli said miserably. “I’ll just…see you later, then.”

“Later,” Fíli said with forced brightness, and Kíli felt all the more guilty for bringing his brother down when he’d been looking forward to seeing his friends. He looked away, not wanting to watch Fíli leave.

~*~

Kíli panted as he tried to concentrate on keeping the bubble of darkness steady around him. Fíli stood a few feet away, well within the area he was meant to be keeping dark, completely illuminated. The idea was for Fíli to be able to see and move within the shadows Kíli created without destroying them with his own light; unfortunately, Kíli was having a hard time keeping the dark intact. Fíli’s light cut through it easily enough but then the edges started to disintegrate and suddenly they’d be standing in the fully lit warehouse.

Kíli had gotten better at keeping things together, and Fíli had managed to tone down enough to keep from blowing the shadows away, but Kíli still couldn’t quite mask Fíli’s glow entirely.

Finally the strain was too much and Kíli let go, daylight replacing the odd twilight of his powers manifested.

“Good,” Thorin said. “You managed twenty minutes that time. That’s enough for today.”

“Enough?” Fíli said, sounding startled. “But…we’ve barely even—”

“He said it was fine,” Kíli said quickly, not eager to do any more work. Fíli looked at him and huffed.

“I don't see why we have to do this,” he said as he turned back to Thorin, apparently willing to concede that Kíli at least had done enough work. “What use is it going to be?”

“You need to learn to work together,” Thorin said, his tone completely reasonable but somehow condescending. “I think the two of you are meant to be a team. Your abilities should complement and work with each other's, but you need to practice using them together.”

“We _know_ how to work together,” Kíli protested, stung by the implication. Fíli nodded vigorously.

“Anyway even if you think we still have to work on that, we could still be _out_ there, _doing_ something to help,” he said, coming perilously close to pleading.

“I'm not letting you put yourselves in danger like that,” Thorin said, steady and implacable and over all _final_.

Fíli turned away from their uncle, scowling, and stomped off, back to their bags left near the door. Thorin frowned slightly as he watched him go; and when Kíli threw a glance back as he hurried after his brother he saw his uncle’s shoulders slump as he sighed.

It was worrying, but Fíli needed him.

Fíli took up ranting as soon as Kíli came into earshot. “I can’t stand it, Kee,” he said. “We’re just wasting time here! It’s the same thing over and over. We’ve got it down, we know how to use our damn powers, but he _still_ won’t take us seriously. People are _dying_ , and he won’t let us _help_!”

There was real anguish in Fíli’s voice at the end of it and Kíli bit his lip, his heart aching for his brother.

“Well,” he said in a low voice, glancing surreptitiously over to make sure their uncle was really leaving, “what do you want to _do_ about that?”

Fíli smirked a bit. “Like uncle said,” he replied, “we go after the head.”

~*~

“So I have maybe not been entirely truthful with you,” Fíli said when they’d piled into the junk heap he called a car and set off. “I haven’t really been hanging out with friends.”

A shameful relief warred with worry over what Fíli might be getting into on his own and anger that he hadn’t seen fit to confide anything in his brother. “What do you mean?” Kíli demanded, anger starting to win out. He wasn’t accustomed to Fíli keeping secrets from him.

“I’ve been doing some reconnaissance,” Fíli answered, looking at the road but casting sidelong glances at Kíli. “Tracking down dealers. Talking to them. _Convincing_ them to talk to me.”

“You—you’ve been torturing people?” Kíli said, aghast. Not his perfect brother. Not his Fíli.

“No, I haven’t—the worst I’ve done is given some guys a sunburn,” Fíli said quickly, taking his eyes off the road entirely. “I’m not some kind of _monster_ , Kee, come on. I just…light up, and, y’know, make it a bit warm, show them I can affect them, and they get freaked out and start babbling.”

Kíli hummed in acknowledgement and sat back, mulling this new information over. He still didn’t like that Fíli had been keeping things from him. But there was nothing to be done for it now but move forward.

It wasn’t a long drive, only a few miles away from the warehouse they practiced in, still in the industrial waterfront district. Their destination, though, was far from abandoned. Fíli parked behind a shipping container a good ways away, shoved one of their ragged masks at him, and told Kíli to be on the lookout to make sure they weren’t spotted. They ducked and skulked and made their way to a side door left propped open.

Kíli didn’t ask what the plan would have been if they hadn’t had such a stroke of luck.

Finally they were in, and they ducked behind a pallet of crates off to the side. Kíli craned his neck to get a look around. There were similar boxes and crates lined up around the room, though the main floor was largely bare, and there was a lot of activity; people bustled around, checking papers and clipboards and generally looking very busy. Kíli frowned. They were very, _very_ lucky they hadn’t been caught, and he wondered if it was always so crowded.

“What are we doing here?” he hissed to Fíli, very aware now that they were in how many ways this could all go wrong, and how little he knew about what his brother intended to do.

“This is where the dealers said they were coming for their supply,” Fíli answered, his voice barely a breath. “I want to confirm that this is where they’re keeping the big stash. Then we can involve the police and hopefully get at least one supplier off the streets.”

Kíli blinked, and couldn’t help the grin that started. “Heh. Have you actually been _listening_ to uncle Thorin?”

Fíli flushed. “Shut up.”

“All right, all right.” The levity faded from Kíli’s expression as he leaned in again. “Why now, though? The place is crawling with people. We’re going to get caught.”

“Security’s tighter at night,” Fíli answered seriously. “I figured we had a better chance of actually getting in during the day. I know _I_ sure as hell can’t crack an electronic lock.”

Kíli conceded the point, and the two brothers subsided once more. They watched intently for a break in the comings and goings of the workers, and a chance to poke around. They were so focused on watching the activity on the floor, neither one of them noticed someone sneaking up on them from behind.

“Well, well, well,” purred a hoarse voice in their ears just as Kíli felt something cold on the back of his neck. “What have we here?”

~*~

Hours later, Fíli and Kíli knelt in the middle of the warehouse floor, hands behind their heads. The woman who had caught them stood before them with a gun trained on Kíli. Plans and possibilities cycled through his mind; he discarded them all. He’d tired himself with training earlier that day, and didn’t think he could keep them both covered in darkness long enough to escape. He didn’t know for sure that he’d be fast enough to take her out before she shot him, or worse, shot Fíli.

"Daisy," someone called from behind them, "you didn't tell me we had visitors."

Kíli shivered in disgust at the sound. It was a deep and resonate voice, but there was something unsettling and almost slimy about it.

"Azog," the woman—Daisy—said. Her voice was low and rough. "Found these two skulking around. Thought you might want to deal with the situation yourself."

"Much as I might enjoy that, I don't have the time. Take care of it."

The woman shrugged and took aim at Kíli’s head. Kíli’s mind went blank as he stared into the barrel of the gun. He didn’t want to die.

It was an instinctive reaction. Just as Fíli screamed his name, even as he saw the movement of his brother lunging for him, he _pushed_ and enveloped all of them in darkness.

“Fee, run!” he shouted, scrambling to his feet to take his own advice.

But Fíli had already been moving, and the sudden lack of visibility must have disoriented him. Instead of making an escape in the confusion, Kíli watched in horror as his brother brushed too close to the woman who had apprehended him.

She reacted so fast Kíli could barely tell what she’d done; grab, twist, shove and Fíli was on the ground. There was a crackling noise, and then the worst sound, a sound that dropped into Kíli’s stomach like ice: a muffled scream. Fíli lay unmoving on the ground, and now she was dragging him up by the hair and the gun was trained on _his_ head and Kíli realized he could see completely clearly, there was no half-shadowed fuzzy twilight filter, and his only protection— _Fíli’s_ only protection—was gone.

And there was another threat in the room.

It felt like he was moving through molasses as he turned, limbs weighted down by exhaustion and terror. The man, Azog, the boss, didn’t seem to have moved. But he was grinning, and it was terrifying.

“Ha. If I’d known you were Durins, I’d have taken care of you myself from the beginning,” he said, taking one slow step forward. Kíli stumbled as he retreated, tripping over his own feet in his panic because something in him was utterly _repulsed_ by this man, couldn’t stand the thought of touching him.

He heard a weak call of his name from Fíli—so he was conscious at least, but considering the pain he much be in that was a small favor indeed—and he hated the look of amusement on Azog’s face in response to it.

Anger blazed through him, and he stood his ground as the hulking man drew closer. Azog only seemed to find it more amusing, but the grin slipped from his face at a sudden yelp of pain from the woman.

Both Kíli and Azog turned in time to see her snatching her hands away from Fíli, who was now glowing a brilliant white. Kíli caught a glimpse of her hands; the skin was bubbling up into blisters already.

Azog turned his gaze back to Kíli. He had been intimidating when he was contemptuously amused; now that he was furious, he was terrifying.

But there was no other way out. There was no other way for him and Fíli to survive the night.

“I’m going to kill you, little Durin. And I will make him watch, and then I will kill _him_ as well,” Azog said.

The words spurred Kíli to action; he lunged forward and landed a blow to Azog’s gut, intending to knock the wind out of him and make him _shut up_. For the first time, he unleashed his full strength on another person, uncaring of the harm he would do.

Azog rocked back a bit, but showed no other reaction.

Kíli stared, speechless. That was impossible. No amount of training in the world should let him shrug off a blow like that.

“My turn,” Azog said. His grin was back.

Still in shock, Kíli had no time to react. He blinked, and Azog’s fist was buried in his stomach, the same blow he had meant to inflict on his enemy but far more effective. He caught a glimpse of Fíli as he crumpled. His brother was staring in horror, his face white with pain as he tried to get up. Daisy was approaching him again.

Azog wasn’t done with Kíli. Even as he wheezed, trying to draw air back into his lungs, a hard fist drove into the side of his head. His vision went black and he fell to his knees and elbows, barely catching himself before his head slammed into the floor. A sudden blow to his forearm and a crackling sound, and it felt like fire was licking its way up to his elbow. He screamed, and the sound was echoed by his brother.

Was Fíli just reacting to what he saw, or had _she_ gotten to him again?

A huge hand grabbed his hair and jerked his head up. He whimpered, a pitiful, weak sound, and arched his neck to try to relieve the pressure. Another blow to the face, this time over his cheekbone, and he tasted blood while that side of his head went numb.

The pull on his hair disappeared and he dropped forward, managing an awkward roll onto his left shoulder as he cradled his right arm. He pressed the injured side of his face to the cold concrete floor and waited for it to be over, watching blearily with one eye as Azog drew his leg back.

A bright bluish-white arc of energy crackled through the air between them, leaving a scorch mark on the floor.

“If you touch them again, I’ll kill you both.”

No. He was delusional, from pain, from the blow his head, something. Because that sounded like _Thorin_.

Whoever it was, he had caught the attention of Azog.

“That can’t be Aquila. I never thought you’d show your face again, not after what I did to your brother.” Not his uncle, then.

“So you remember me. Then you remember what I can do. It would be best for you to leave. Now.”

Silence for what felt like forever. Then: “Daisy, we’re leaving.”

Another interminably long silence, broken only by the sounds of footsteps as Azog and Daisy left. Then the sounds of the interloper coming closer.

“Kíli? Kíli, can you hear me?” he asked, his voice all tightly controlled panic. He prodded Kíli gently, and carefully turned him onto his back.

“Uncle?” Kíli slurred out, trying to make his vision focus. “Wh-what…”

“Shh. Don’t try to talk. I’m going to take care of you.”

“Fee…I dunno...I dunno if he…”

“It’s all right, Kíli, you’re both going to be all right.”

~*~

Kíli didn't remember much about how Thorin got them out of the warehouse, though he had vague memories of slumping in the backseat of his uncle's car.

His memories of the night came in flashes after that. The car stopping and the pain of his injuries being jostled, Thorin's worried face and tense voice, a touch that soothed him but made him so overwhelmingly tired.

The next thing he knew, his mother was waking him with a shriek. He startled awake on the couch and found his mother staring at him with wide eyes and a horrified expression. Thorin was just coming into the room, carrying Fíli.

"Fee," he called weakly before anyone could say anything. "Is he..."

Thorin hurried to answer before Kíli had to force the words out. "He's fine. Just exhausted. The two of you should sleep." He met mom's eyes. "We can all talk about this in the morning."

And Kíli knew no more that night.

~*~

Kíli woke up in his own bed, and for a few blissful minutes remembered nothing of the day before. And then everything slammed into his head and he was halfway across the room in search of his brother before he realized his arm, while sore, no longer seemed broken.

Well. He’d think about it later. He had to get to Fíli.

He made it out his bedroom door and came face to face with his brother.

"Fee!"

"Kee!"

Their voices overlapped as they fell into one another's arms. They embraced desperately. Fíli grunted slightly in discomfort, but when Kíli tried to pull away he only held on tighter.

Eventually they pulled apart slightly, keeping their hold on each other but leaning back a bit to look at the other. Fíli looked good, color in his cheeks once more. He bit his lip and gently cupped the left side of Kíli’s face.

Kíli hissed involuntarily; whatever miracle had been done to his arm, his face was still tender. But Fíli was infinitely gentle as he explored the area with his fingertips. When at last he seemed satisfied he slid his hand around to cup the back of Kíli’s head and pressed their foreheads together.

"I thought you were dead," he said. "Oh, Kee, I thought my stupid plan had killed you."

"It's fine, I'm fine," Kíli murmured. "I thought--I couldn't see you and I thought--"

"Shh, I'm fine," Fíli said softly. They swayed slightly, staying close and breathing the same air until a throat clearing caught their attention and they broke apart.

"If the two of you are up, your mother wants to speak to you," uncle Thorin said.

Fíli’s face seemed to shut down, and he nodded grimly. They followed their uncle to the living room.

They sat together on the couch, as they had so many weeks ago, but this time they were facing both their uncle and their mother.

"I won't stand for this," Their mother said. An auspicious start. "I got out for a reason, and I refuse to see my sons get sucked back in. I refuse to see you go the same way as Frerin."

Kíli and Fíli stated at her, dumbfounded. “You…you were _involved_ …what?” Fíli sputtered, confused.

Kíli blinked, another memory from the previous day coming back.

"That's right," he said, "that big hulking guy called us Durins. And he called _you_ something weird, Uncle. Aguila or something."

"Aquila," Thorin said, half muffled by his hand. "I _told_ you boys you weren't the only ones with secrets."

Dís went very, very still, and turned slowly to face her brother. “Thorin,” she said, and her voice was quiet and even. Fíli and Kíli both flinched back. “Do you mean to tell me that you _knew_ about the boys going out, and not only didn’t tell me, but didn’t fully prepare _them_ either?”

Uncle Thorin paused, and composed himself. A good plan, really. It was best to be prepared when talking to mom. “I was in the _process_ of preparing them. The altercation last night was undertaken entirely without my knowledge and consent.”

“Much like this _preparation_ was done without _my_ knowledge and consent.”

“Please, can you discuss this later? And maybe tell us what the hell is going on?” Fíli interjected, very unwisely in Kíli’s opinion as the two of them had started to get completely distracted from being angry at Fíli and him and were instead turning on each other. Not even weird family history was worth that.

But though their mother was even more righteously indignant, Thorin looked at least a bit chastised.

“Did neither of you ever wonder _why_ you had the abilities you do?” he asked, and they glanced at one another. No, they had just dealt with things. “It’s the legacy you inherited from your mother, from our family. We all have certain…gifts. They appear at different times; some are born with them, and some develop later, like yours did.”

“You’re something to do with electricity,” Kíli said slowly, recalling the flash and the sizzling pop from the night before.

“Yes,” Thorin said, “I can control electricity the way the two of you control light and darkness, more or less.”

“And mom?” Kíli asked eagerly, turning his attention to her.

“No. It doesn’t matter,” she said severely. “I left that part of myself behind a long time ago, when Frerin was killed.”

“But I thought—he was _killed_?” Fíli broke in, looking to Thorin for confirmation.

“Yes,” Thorin said, bowing his head. “We were raised to see it as our duty to use our abilities to help people, and many members of the family, ourselves included, turned to the same path the two of you decided on. We actively went out and saved people, whoever we could. But Frerin—he was part of it, but he shouldn’t have been. He was empathic; he could feel other peoples’ emotions, and project his own. He _could_ influence others’ emotions a bit, but his offensive capabilities were…limited. And. Well. We had made some enemies, doing what we did, and one of them came after us and exposed us to the wrong people, blackmailed and extorted us into giving up our family’s company. We were left penniless, without any resources. And that was when Azog came for us.”

“He hated us for beating him before,” Dís interrupted, “so he struck when we were low. He killed Frerin and that was just…the end. I couldn’t do it anymore. So I _got out_ , and I built a life _away_ from all of that. I raised the two of you without that shadow over you, and I’ll be damned if it takes you now. I forbid you from going out again. I forbid you from putting your lives at risk. I _will not_ lose you.”

And after the night they’d had, the defeat they’d suffered and the injuries they’d endured, Kíli could think of nothing to say in their defense.

~*~

Kíli padded quietly down the hallway, expecting his mother or uncle to spring out at any moment and demand he get back to bed. But his journey was uninterrupted, and before he realized how far he'd gotten he was standing nervously in front of his brother’s bedroom door.

While he was still standing there indecisively before he could decide whether to knock or just go in or return to his own room, the door opened. Fíli stood there, and they only stared at each other in silence for a moment before Fíli stood aside and let Kíli in.

They didn't talk. Everything important either had been said already or didn't need to be said aloud. They just climbed into bed together, the way they had countless times since they'd been children when one or both of them needed the comfort.

But tonight was different. The moment between them that morning, charged with something new and different, was still fresh in Kíli’s mind as he curled into his brother's side. And it seemed less than a coincidence when Fíli wrapped an arm around him and his hand happened to land on Kíli’s hip, right where his shirt rode up and revealed a sliver of skin.

They lay there for a long time, neither willing to be the first to take the last step. Instead, Kíli nestled his head against Fíli’s shoulder and drew abstract circles on his chest. Slowly Fíli’s hand inched up, further under Kíli’s shirt.

The rest of the world slipped away; it was only the two of them, cradled in the dark and intimate privacy of the night. Kíli’s hand moved with more purpose, sliding up Fíli’s chest to his neck, resting there above his pulse, fingertips brushing his jaw. Slowly, Kíli raised himself up on his elbow and bent forward, telegraphing his movements and giving Fíli more than enough time to stop things and move away.

But Fíli didn’t.

Instead, the moment Kíli’s lips touched his, he surged up into it, half sitting up and cupping the back of Kíli’s head in an echo of his gesture from that morning. He rolled slightly so they were on their sides facing each other, and entwined their hands. They lay together, basking in this new intimacy, shifting to get even closer. They both knew they were crossing an indelible line, but it was impossible _not_ to, impossible not to want—to _need_ —to touch each other, to get close.

As he shifted to get closer yet again, Kíli’s knee slipped over Fíli’s legs, and suddenly they were rutting against each other. It wasn’t desperate or violent, for all that Kíli thought he could come in his pants, and for all the overwhelming need he felt.

They simply moved together, a little bit awkward and fumbling but not nearly so bad as it might’ve been. They were slow and languorous, and the pleasure built between them inexorably.

In the last moments, just as his face went slack, Fíli _shone_ , the brilliant white that should mean he’d grown hot enough to burn. It felt no more than warm against Kíli’s skin, warm and comforting, but he was so overcome by the _beauty_ , by how it lit Fíli’s features and became almost difficult to look at, made Fíli look like an angel, or like a god.

His own release surprised him, and the force of it whited out his mind for a split-second, the strongest it had ever been. It should have been dirty, he should have come back to himself after the physical pleasure was done and realized how _wrong_ all of this was, but it felt _right_. He’d never before felt so much like this was where he belonged, this was meant to happen exactly as it had.

He did, however, realize he seemed to have lost control of his powers, and unlike Fíli the effects hadn’t faded after the moment of orgasm. He could tell by the quality of light that they were encased in his darkness.

“Sorry,” Kíli murmured, embarrassed.

Fíli froze. “For what?” he asked carefully, drawing away from Kíli.

Kíli was having none of that, and threw his arm around his brother’s chest to keep him in place. “For dousing the lights, Fíli, that’s all!” he said, blinking as he tried to concentrate enough to dissolve the bubble of darkness. Odd. He usually had the _opposite_ problem.

“You didn’t, I can still see you fine!” Fíli protested, causing Kíli to stare at him in disbelief just as he managed to make the shadows release them. Fíli blinked at the change in light, dumbfounded.

“What—how—”

“Maybe it was, you know, the intimacy,” Kíli said. “When you…you know…you went all bright, the way you do when you get hot enough to burn, but it didn’t hurt me.”

Fíli huffed. “Weird. I wonder if it’s temporary or if it lasts. Like is it only while we’re having sex, or do our powers just not effect each other now?”

Kíli, much to his own horror, felt himself blushing at how plainly Fíli spoke about what had just happened. He gamely ignored it. “That could come in handy.”

Fíli eyed him. “You heard mom. We’re _forbidden_ from doing anything that it might come in handy _for_.”

“Well, I mean, that was _before_ we found out about this advantage,” Kíli said, “and I’ve never known you to let what anyone, even mom, says stop you from doing what you _know_ is right.”

Fíli was very quiet for a few minutes. “You were hurt, though. You almost died. And it was my fault.”

“No more than it was my fault,” Kíli said. “ _I_ decided to go along with you. You didn’t make me do anything. And _you_ got hurt too. We just—we’ll do a better job of taking care of each other.”

Fíli sighed, and scooted forward to press his forehead against Kíli’s. “All right. We’ll go back.”

~*~

It took them weeks before they were willing to try again. First they had to recover completely, as Fíli refused to even consider going after Azog again until they were back to full health. And then they needed to sneak out to test out the new limitations of their powers; it seemed their immunity to each other’s powers was permanent.

And then, of course, was the reconnaissance, this time far more subtle. They traded off turns and tracked Azog’s movements as best as they could; they found that Daisy never strayed far from his side, and he would visit the warehouse one night a week in a semi-reliable pattern.

So when they finally judged themselves ready, they were forced to stake out his warehouse and wait to see if he showed up.

They had no luck the first two nights, and were starting to wonder if he’d skip this week’s visit when they got lucky, and saw Daisy prowling around the outside of the building—“Probably checking the perimeter,” Fíli whispered—and took their chance.

They slipped out of the car silently and crept towards her, trying not to give their presence away. This would be much easier with the element of surprise intact.

Fíli gestured him ahead, and Kíli swallowed and concentrated.

He imagined that for Daisy, it was seamless, from one blink to the next being plunged into absolute darkness. It was more of a strain for him, but he managed it.

“You again,” Daisy said as she froze. “You will not be so lucky this time as to escape with your lives.” And then she was silent.

Fíli caught Kíli’s eye and put a finger to his lips; Kíli nodded. She was too well practiced and well trained; they would have to hit her hard and fast, and try to avoid as much damage as they could. And they would have to do it without using Fíli’s power if possible; he needed to save up his energy for Azog

So they spread out, surrounding her as quietly as they could. They struck as one, Fíli aiming an uppercut to her jaw while Kíli jabbed her kidneys, one coming from her left and one from her right, from in front and from behind, from above and from below, trying to hit simultaneously, trying to disorient her.

She was wearing. Well trained she might have been, but this time they were prepared and they knew to exploit their advantage. Finally they landed two blows to her head, one after the other, and she swayed and crumpled.

“Keep it up,” Fíli hissed, “she might be faking.” He moved forward cautiously, unlooping the rope from his shoulder, and nudged her with his foot. She didn’t move, even as Fíli knelt down and started tying her hands securely. Then he bound her feet, and then he bent her knees and bound her feet _to_ her hands.

When at last Fíli judged her secure, he nodded for Kíli to drop the shadows concealing them. They looked at each other with wide eyes, exhilarated by their victory.

Now for the hard part.

They circled around the warehouse, and found one of the loading bay doors open. They ducked under it and immediately found cover; both of them had their eyes peeled for Azog.

But somehow he still found them first.

“Ah, the Durin boys,” he said, emerging from the shadows behind them.

Kíli felt a twinge of annoyance amidst the flood of fear; he was so sure that he’d beat them he was willing to give up the tactical advantage of surprise to make a dramatic entrance? _Really_? That was insulting.

But maybe not completely unfounded, given his own performance at their last meeting.

Fíli surged forward, already starting to glow. He slammed into Azog with both hands, then threw himself to the side just as the behemoth took a swipe at him. He clipped him—in the _ribs_ , oh please let him really have healed completely—but it seemed like Fíli managed to twist away for the most part.

And the skin on Azog’s arm was bubbling up and already an angry red. He snarled and turned to go after Fíli; Kíli took advantage of his distraction to surround him with shadows, and darted forward to land a blow on his injured arm, dancing away from Azog’s instinctive blow in response.

Azog roared in pain and fury, and Kíli grinned. If nothing else, they were affecting him this time.

Kíli kept the shadows dancing around him, trying to distract him and throw him off. He didn’t think he had the strength to keep him encased in darkness as he had Daisy, but the shadows were easy enough and he could keep them going almost indefinitely.

Fíli darted forward once more, getting a good blow in to Azog’s side, again leaving behind a burn, hopefully enough to inhibit his movements. The pain was getting to him; he swayed and shook his head, growling as he tried to focus on Fíli.

Kíli took a breath and focused. Again, the blackness sprung up around them, and he ran forward to strike him in the new burn.

Azog groaned and fell to his knees; Fíli darted in again and spread his hands to cover as much area as he could, to inflict as much pain as possible.

Kíli flinched and looked away. He knew they needed to incapacitate him at least enough to prevent him from leaving before the police came, and that Azog was tougher than a normal human, even tougher than them. This injury wouldn’t be as debilitating for him as it would for anyone else.

But it seemed more like revenge than strategy.

At last the pain proved too much for Azog, and he passed out. Fíli wasted no time in binding his hands as well; meanwhile, Kíli started searching the crates.

“Try the ones nearer the door, he’d have wanted to get the dealers supplied and out of the way quickly,” Fíli said, coming over to help.

They found a crate full of baggies of white powder soon enough, and after that it was a bit of a scramble trying to figure out how to turn Azog in without getting questioned themselves.

In the end, they just overturned the crate to make it obvious and called in an anonymous tip from the office in the back.

Then a mad scramble back to Fíli’s car, and they were on their way home.

~*~

It was the small hours of the morning when they got back home, still riding the high of adrenaline from the fight. They were giggling and knocking into each other, and just outside the kitchen door Kíli pulled Fíli into a kiss that had both of them moaning and their hands nudging up under clothes.

They spilled into the kitchen, shushing each other and stifling their laughter.

“If you don't mind,” their uncle said, making both of them jump, “some of us would like to get this over with and go to bed.”

They sobered quickly and took their now accustomed place on the couch. They pressed together from hip to knee, finding comfort in the touch.

“So. Even after your mother _expressly forbade_ you, you went out,” Thorin said, clearly not interested in beating around the bush. The boys didn’t say anything. “Well? What exactly were you doing?”

“We went out,” Fíli said simply, not giving an inch. Thorin sighed heavily.

“Yes, thank you, I’d managed to work that out on my own,” he snapped, and then stared from one to the other of them. “All right. All right. You two will do what you want, no matter what anyone says about it. I’m not going to fight you on this. A word of advice, though?”

Both boys were staring at him because of his easy capitulation already.

“Come up with aliases. Something easy to remember. And don’t forget even if you are working on their side sometimes, vigilantism is illegal and the police won’t look well on you if it comes out.” The boys nodded somberly, and he sighed heavily.

“And boys,” he went on, “next time you go out, _tell me_. I can’t be very good backup if I don’t know I’m needed.”

They watched him leave before seeking out bed themselves. There was no discussion and no hesitation; Kíli simply crawled into Fíli’s bed with him, and they slept peacefully through the night in each other’s arms.


End file.
